Archive
Mudline Archive
STICKS, STONES, BROKEN BONES
During the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential race, we began collecting negative soundbites and posting them weekly on a MUDLINE ticker, as a temporary election feature. But in the aftermath of that tumultuous contest we realized that the tone of public discourse was unlikely to improve, and elected to continue the feature. Unfortunately, we were right; two decades later, incivility is hotter than ever. If you just can’t get enough snark on social media, this mud’s for you.
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March 12, 2015
NY Daily News on GOP senators who wrote to Iran's leaders: "Traitors."….Major Gen. Paul D. Eaton: "Mutinous…Defied the chain of command."….New York Times: "GOP Idiocy...Disgraceful and irresponsible."....Leslie Gelb: "Hate President Obama more than they love America."....Bernie Sanders: "Unspeakable...Outrageous."....Obama: "Wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran."....Harry Reid: "Juvenile...Apparently, some of my Republican colleagues do not believe that two wars are enough."....former Reagan adviser Bruce Bartlett on CPAC attendees: "They are really rather stupid and not very well read. To them Reagan is a distant figure in history...I think he would probably be booed out of the crowd."....Phil Robertson: "You know what's happened, GOP? We got too many 'any others' in the White House. It wasn't meant for them.".... -
March 4, 2015
Sen. Ted Cruz: "We need a commander in chief who will actually stand up and defend the United States of America!"....House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Netanyahu speech: "Condescension...[An] insult to the intelligence of the United States."...Sen. Chris Murphy: "A stick in the eye of the president."....Sen. Barbara Boxer: "Circular reasoning."....Rep. John Yarmuth: "Straight out of the Dick Cheney playbook."....Rep. Jan Schakowsky: "Felt to me like an effort to stampede the United States into war once again."....Rep. Jim McDermott: "He was trying to make people afraid."....Christiane Amanpour: "Strangelovian."....Rep. Jared Huffman: "He's never seen a war he didn't want our country to fight."....The Guardian: "Did what he does so well: scared American politicians to death.".... -
February 26, 2015
South Dakota state Sen. Isaac Latterell on Planned Parenthood: "Worse than ISIS."....Keith Olbermann on Penn State students: "Pitiful."....Bill O'Reilly on David Corn: "A left-wing assassin...A guttersnipe liar...I expect [him] to be in the kill zone. Where he deserves to be."....Corn on O'Reilly: "It's impossible to win a debate with O'Reilly because he is not bound by reality."....Rudy Giuliani: "I don't believe the president loves America. He doesn't love you. He doesn't love me."....NY Daily News on Giuliani: "Loves America. But apparently he hates Barack Obama even more."....David Axelrod on Giuliani: "A fading politician, kind of lighting himself on fire and trying to get some attention."....Sally Kohn on Giuliani remarks: "Narrow-minded, ugly and just plain offensive."....Hannibal Buress on fans: "Stop calling me your f***ing spirit animal.".... -
February 19, 2015
Geraldo Rivera on hip-hop: "Has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years."....Dinesh D'Souza on Obama video: "You can take the boy out of the ghetto..."....Jesse Ventura on Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper": "As authentic as 'Dirty Harry.'"....Now-resigned Jeb Bush chief technology officer Ethan Czahor in the 2009 tweet that caused him to step down: "New study confirms old belief: college female art majors are sluts, science majors are also sluts but uglier."....Critic Jeffrey Wells on Amy Schumer: "She's obviously sharp and clever and funny as far as the woe-is-me, self-deprecating thing goes, but there's no way she'd be an object of heated romantic interest in the real world."....James Joiner on Imagine Dragons' new album: "So boring you're already asleep...There is nothing here to indicate that this isn't the result of a board meeting between band members and an aging major label A&R guy spit balling ideas based on trending sounds and musical genres.".... -
February 10, 2015
Obama on ISIS: "A brutal, vicious death cult...Remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith."....Rep. Steve King on Obama comments: "A much bigger jihadi recruiting tool than Gitmo."....VA Gov. Jim Gilmore: "The most offensive comments I've ever heard a president make in my lifetime. He has offended every believing Christian in the United States."....Mike Huckabee: "Everything he does is against what Christians stand for...The one group of people that can know they have his undying, unfailing support would be the Muslim community."....Greta Van Susteren: "Has now alienated that Christians. Deeply alienated them."....John Hayward: "He gave marching orders to an army of pinheads to start nattering about the Crusades and the Inquisition again."....Ben Carson: "Having a leader who doesn't seem to understand what a basic school child might understand is somewhat worrisome."....Bill Maher on Republicans: "Will look you right in the eye and tell you two plus two equals Jesus."....Kanye West on Album of the Year: "Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyonce and at this point, we are tired of it...When you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you're disrespectful to inspiration."....Shirley Manson on West: "It is YOU who are disrespecting artistry...You make yourself look small and petty and spoilt...Grow up and stop throwing your toys around."....FL Rep. Alcee Hastings on Texas: "A crazy state...One of their cities has a law that says women can only have six dildos."....